I was picked up before ~9:45am, heading to Kendall Katwalk. I've been to Kendall Peak twice, Red Mountain once, but never hiked all the way to the catwalk. So looking forward to it.
We took Commonwealth Basin trail, instead of PCT north, 1.4 miles instead of 2.4 each way. Less people, more rugged.
Saw a lot of amanitas.
In the basin, saw a Russian couple with shopping bags, picking mushrooms.
Need to cross Commonwealth Creek twice. Once on a big log covered in metal mesh, the other requires skipingp rocks (now super easy).
Saw
Once it joins PCT (at the junction to Red Mountain), it zigzags gently for another 2 miles in the forest. Nice trail, quite some big trees, more people (quite a few are camping).
Found more boletes, so slow going.
Once out of forest, it's another mile to reach the junction to Kendall Peak boot track.
Views are pretty good now, Rainier looming behind.
1/3 mile later, it reaches a ridge.
Took a lunch break here. My stomach was troubling me.
Continued on. The trail loses elevation a little bit along a forested ridge (not on top of the ridge, not much view).
In another 1/3 mile, it crosses another gap. Here, the view is super. Can see Stuart, Lemah, Chikamin, Chair, Lundin, Three Queens (? only saw one peak), Four Brothers?
Continued another ~0.7 miles to a flat-ish area (crosscrossed with tracks to different camp sites), where we could peek down to Ridge Lake.
I really like this site, a bit tucked away from the main drag.
But, no water here.
Saw Pika.
We didn't go down to Ridge Lake. Took me awhile to resolve my stomach issue.
Back the same way. Encountered 3 PCT thru-hikers among other backpackers and a few runners. The first we met said he has 10 days left. Quite fast: 244 miles from Ridge Lake to Canadian border. The second one is a lady from Germany with a bear spray and a teddy bear. She seems willing to chat, but I forgot to ask her favorite sections. The 3rd one carries a really large pack, looks grumpy.
No traffic on I-90 today. Temperature rose to above 70°F as we drove back.
Very lucky and nice cool air while hiking.
Got dropped off a little after 6pm. My partner kindly gave me all the good baby boletes.
Still, it took effort to clean and process.
I made a jar with 2 bigger mushrooms cooked in vinegar and bunch of spices, sealed.
Sauteed the rest.
